Systems and methods for creating customized content

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for generating a content structure that can then be used as a content design building block. Specifically, new content can be automatically generated by combining, replacing or mixing and matching objects, actions, settings, effects, audio, etc., from any number of previously stored content structures to create a new content structure, which is then rendered as a new content segment. Content segments are then stitched together to generate a finished content stream. In this way, new and original content can be created without the traditionally expensive and labor-intensive filming or computer animation processes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is directed to content analytics and creation, and more particularly to creating a content design structure that is used to create new content.

BACKGROUND

Existing content providers such as traditional broadcasting networks, production companies, and over-the-top service providers often produce new content such as movies or television shows through audio/video capture of sets, filming actors/actresses and/or models. A significant amount of time, expense and efforts are usually required in developing scripts, costumes and sets as well as casting, filming and post-production editing in the content creation process. In addition, some existing computer-based post-production tools are used to add or edit computer-generated content such as special visual effects to video content from filming. But these tools often require labor-intensive programming to define attributes, motion paths, and features for an added visual effect, which is subsequently rendered frame-by-frame to produce the visual effect.

SUMMARY

In view of this problem, systems and methods are disclosed for generating a content structure that can then be used as a content design building block. Specifically, new content can be automatically generated by combining, replacing or mixing and matching objects, actions, settings, effects, audio, etc., from any number of previously stored content structures to create a new content structure, which is then rendered as a new content segment. Content segments are then stitched together to generate a finished content stream. In this way, new and original content can be created without the traditionally expensive and labor-intensive filming or computer animation processes.

Specifically, a content deconstruction engine is configured to create a content structure by deconstructing a segment of a content asset into an attribute table of structural listing of data fields and corresponding mappings. The data fields correspond to attributes of objects, settings, effects, etc., that appeared in the segment of a content asset, and the mapping includes attribute values corresponding to each attribute. In this way, the content deconstruction engine stores segments of content assets in a deconstructed form as content structures having a table of attributes and mappings of attribute values mapped to the corresponding attributes. These deconstructed content structures provide knowledge of attributes such as features of different objects, movement and interaction patterns between the objects, and relationships between the objects that appear in the original content segments.

To deconstruct a segment of content and generate a content structure, the content deconstruction engine performs pattern recognition on the segment to identify objects such as characters, scenery, lighting, props, action, motion, special effects, audio tracks, and/or the like. For each identified object, the content deconstruction engine determines a plurality of attributes related to the object. For example, an object may be a human character in the content segment and attributes of the human character object may include the height, race, age, gender, hair color, eye color, body type, a facial pattern signature, a movement pattern, a relative location with other objects, an interaction with other objects, and/or the like. The attributes are stored in the attribute table as a listing of data field names in the content structure.

The content deconstruction engine maps attributes of the object to attribute values depicting the actual object that appeared in the content segment, and the corresponding sub-segment within the content segment during which a specific attribute value appears. The attribute value, a presence indicator including the associated start time and end time of the sub-segment during which the respective attribute value is present in the content segment, and the mapping relationship with the respective attribute are collectively, separately, or independently referred to herein as “mapping.” The content deconstruction engine then creates and stores the generated content structure including the attribute table and the associated mapping at a content design database.

The content structure, together with many other previously created and stored content structures can then be used to create customized content. Specifically, a content construction engine is implemented to retrieve one or more previously stored content structures and combine, replace or mix-match objects, settings, effects, audios, etc., from these content structures to create a new content structure. For example, the content construction engine may map relevant attributes of a particular object in a first content structure to attribute values from the mapping in a second content structure. The content construction engine then creates a new content structure having the object structure relating to the particular object being populated with attribute values from the second content structure, e.g., a human object structure can be modified with physical appearance and movement patterns relating to a monster creature derived from the attribute values from the second content structure. In this way, customized new content can be created using the content structure as a framework and customized mapping to fill in the framework without the labor of re-casting, re-setting or re-filming.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example block diagram illustrating aspects of deconstructing a content asset into a number of content segments, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 2 provides an example block diagram illustrating a deconstruction system for generating a content structure associated with a content segment, according to embodiments described herein;

FIGS. 3A-3B provide illustrative diagrams illustrating that objects and the interaction among objects within an example content segment are analyzed frame by frame to generate the content structure, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D provide diagrams illustrating an example content structure including an attribute table and associated mapping generated from video frames of the content segment as shown in FIGS. 2-3, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 7 provides an example diagram illustrating the process of training and generating content structure via an artificial neural network, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 8 provides example training sets for object/scene/effect identification for the artificial neural network illustrated in FIG. 7;

FIGS. 9A-B provide pseudo-code examples of content structure illustrated in FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIGS. 10-11 provide example diagrams illustrating the content deconstruction engine processing a number of content streams to generate a number of content structures, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 12 shows another example of content structure in a similar format as those shown in FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D; and

FIGS. 13A-15 provide example diagrams illustrating aspects of creating new content from previously created and stored content structures discussed throughout FIGS. 1-12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts an example block diagram illustrating aspects of deconstructing a content asset into a number of content segments, according to some embodiments described herein. Pre-processing system 100 includes a buffer 120, at which a content stream 108 is received and divided into a plurality of content segments 122 a-c. For example, a content deconstruction engine (shown at 130 in FIG. 2) may be implemented to generate content segments 122 a-c from the content stream 108. The content deconstruction engine may be implemented at a client station, a server, a set-top box, a game console, or any other hardware or software system or systems that can be configured to receive a content asset or a media stream and perform analytics on the content asset or media stream.

The content stream 108 may include, but is not limited to, professionally generated content, digital first content, a live broadcast, a previously stored content asset at a DVR, other broadcasted content, over-the-top (OTT) media stream, video and/or audio files, downloaded content, user-generated content or any media stream, and/or the like. The content deconstruction engine may “slice” the content stream 108 into a plurality of content segments 122 a-c at the buffer 120. For example, the content deconstruction engine may determine a starting playback position and an ending playback position for each segment based, on a pre-determined segment duration, e.g., [t1, t2], [t2, t3], [t3, t4], etc. The content segments 122 a-c may have the same pre-defined duration lengths or may have different duration lengths. Example lengths for each content segment 122 a-c may be pre-defined as 300 ms, 500 ms, 700 ms, and/or the like. Alternatively, the content segments 122 a-c may also be defined by chapters, scenes, pauses in audio, close captions, etc., from the content stream 108.

FIG. 2 provides an example block diagram illustrating a deconstruction system 200 for generating a content structure 133 associated with a content segment (122 a as shown in FIG. 1), according to embodiments described herein. Specifically, the content deconstruction engine 130 receives a content segment, e.g., 122 a from the pre-processing system 100 in FIG. 1, and may generate a content structure 133 corresponding to the content segment 122 a. In some embodiments, the content structure 133 may be generated in real time while the streaming data relating to the content asset 108 is being received. In this case, streaming data from the content stream 108 is buffered at the buffer 120, and then the content deconstruction engine 130 progressively deconstructs each received content segment at the buffer 120 into a content structure 133, while the content stream 108 is also being received at the buffer.

For each determined content segment, e.g., 122 a-c, the content deconstruction engine 130 may determine a content structure descriptive of objects and/or other features within the content segment. Specifically, the content deconstruction engine 130 may retrieve and analyze a content segment 122 a (or can be any of 122 a-c in FIG. 1), e.g., by pattern recognition on video frames contained in the content segment 122 a to identify a number of objects, scenes, lighting, audio, etc. For each identified object, scene, lighting, audio, etc., the content deconstruction engine 130 determines a list of attributes for the attribute table 131 descriptive of the respective object, scene, lighting or audio, and corresponding mapping 132 including attribute values corresponding to the attributes.

For example, for a content segment 122 a that features a male character and multiple non-human physical objects such as background settings, props, etc., the content deconstruction engine 130 may perform pattern recognition, based on an object database, to identify an object corresponding to the male character from the segment. Based on a type of the object, for example, when the object is a human object, the content deconstruction engine 130 identifies a list of attributes of each human object, including but not limited to gender, race, height, age, hair color, facial feature pattern, clothing style, status (e.g., static, moving, etc.), and other characteristics of the identified object. The content deconstruction engine further obtains specific attribute values, by content analysis of content segment 122 a, corresponding to attributes, e.g., such as gender=“male,” race=“Caucasian,” height=“6,” age=“28, hair color=“brown,” status=“moving,” etc. The attribute values are included in the mapping 132 associated with the attribute table 131.

The attribute table 131 and the associated mapping 132 are stored in the form of a content structure 133 at storage 319. Specifically, the content structure 133 can then be retrieved to create new content by combining with other deconstructed content structures, by replacing part of the mappings 132 with mappings stored in other content structures, or by any mix-matching with attributes or mappings from other content structures, as further described in FIGS. 13A-15. Content structure 133 may be stored as a structured data file compatible with XML, JSON, Python or in the form of other suitable computer readable file.

Storage device 319 may include any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVRs, sometimes called a personal video recorders, or PVRs), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. The content structure 133 including the attribute table 131 and mapping 132 may also be accessed at a cloud-based storage, which may be used to supplement a local storage device or instead of the storage device.

FIGS. 3A-3B provide diagrams illustrating that objects and the interaction among objects within an example content segment 122 a are analyzed frame-by-frame to generate the content structure 133, according to some embodiments described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates a series of example consecutive video frames 125 a-n deconstructed from content segment 122 a, showing the process of a male character jumping over the front of a red car parked by a house. As shown in video frames 125 a-n, the relative position between the male character and the red car and the relative position between the male character and the house are changing per frame. The content deconstruction engine 130 analyzes each object within each frame to generate attributes in the attribute table 131 and the associated mapping 132.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3B, frames 125 and 126 represent video frames in the content segment 122 a at t1 and t2 within content segment 122 a, respectively. Within each video frame, the content deconstruction engine 130 identifies various objects, e.g., objects 111, 112, 113 in video frame 125 and objects 111, 113, 114 in video frame 126. For each object, the content deconstruction engine determines a number of attributes such as the type (e.g., human, non-human object name, alien, monster, animation, etc.), state (e.g., new, old, whole, damaged, exploding, liquid, gas, solid) emotional, stoic, etc.), features (e.g., size, height, shape, color, hair color, race, age, gender, attire, etc.), the absolute location (e.g., X, Y and Z coordinates within a 2D or 3D video frame), the relative location (e.g., polar or spherical coordinates relative to another object, etc.), motion (e.g. velocity, movement direction, speed), action (e.g. driving, shooting, chasing, sitting, swimming, singing, etc.) audio (e.g., audio dialogue, background audio, audio volume, audio name, audio instrument type, etc.), and/or the like. Although video frame 125-126 only shows various objects for illustrative purposes, the content deconstruction engine 130 also identifies attributes for lighting (e.g. inside/outside, bright/dark, sunny/cloudy, candlelight/strobe light, season of year, etc.), set information (e.g. domicile, office, war zone, etc.), geographic location (e.g. underwater, space, jungle, mountains, cities, etc.), effects (explosions, smoke, etc.) and filters (e.g. sepia, airbrush, “old film”, cartoon, etc.), etc. Additional example of attributes within the attribute table are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A-D.

In some embodiments, an absolute location attribute (e.g., 136 b) is included in the object structure for an object. For example, the content deconstruction engine determines the position point of object 111 as the coordinates (e.g., “X₁, Y₁, Z₁” 136 b ₁ in mapping 132 for 3D content) of the respective center point of the object. The center point of each object can be obtained by locating the minimum rectangular shape covering the respective object. Deconstruction engine 130 continues to plot the absolute location of object 111 over the course of content segment 122 a, as shown for example, in mapping 132 a different set of coordinates “X₂,Y₂,Z₂” 136 b ₂ is shown when the location of object 111 changes over time.

The content deconstruction engine 130 further determines relative location attributes for objects. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, object structure 134 includes the relative location attribute 136 c for object 112, 113, 114 relative to object 111. The content deconstruction engine may compute a respective set of polar coordinates of the respective position relative to object 111 to describe a respective relative location relationship, e.g., shown at 215 a, 217 a in frame 125, or 217 b and 218 a in frame 126. For example, the relative position between the objects 111 and 112 can be described by a vector 215 a between the respective center points of the objects 111 and 112, which can be described by polar(2D) or spherical (3D) coordinates (L₁, θ₁) or(r,θ, φ) respectively indicative of the vector 215 a representing the relationship between the two objects. L₁ denotes a relative distance between objects 111 and 112, and θ₁ denotes an angle of the vector from a horizontal axis of the video frame.

The object data structure for object 111 further includes a motion attribute 136 e. The content deconstruction engine 130 computes a velocity vector {right arrow over (V₁)}; 136 e ₁ based on the absolute location change (X₂-X₁, Y₂-Y₁, Z₂-Z₁) and a time lapse between the video frames, to represent the attribute value corresponding to the motion attribute for object 111. The velocity vector may change with time, which is indicated in the mapping 132 shown in FIG. 4, as a time-varying vector.

In some embodiments, the content deconstruction engine determines a motion of the object by monitoring the relative position change between objects. The content deconstruction engine may retrieve a second video frame (e.g., video frame 126) corresponding to a playback position that is later than the first video frame (e.g., video frame 125), and re-computes a second set of polar coordinates to describe a respective relative location relationship. For example, the content deconstruction engine may compute the relative position between object 111 and object 112 at t₂, e.g., described by polar coordinates (L₂, θ₂) indicative of line segment 215 _(b) connecting the two objects 111 and 112. L₂ denotes a relative distance between objects 111 and 112 within the second video frame 126, and θ₂ denotes an angle of the vector from a horizontal axis of the video frame 126. The content deconstruction engine generates a relative location change vector as the differences between the polar coordinates (L₁, θ₁) and (L₂, θ₂), i.e., (L₂-L₁, θ₂-θ₁) as shown in mapping 132 as {right arrow over (V₂)}. Thus, the relative motion attribute (e.g., 136 f in FIG. 5A) describing the relative movement of objects 112, 113, 114 relative to object 111 can be computed in a similar manner, which is mapped to a series of velocity vectors {right arrow over (V₂)}, {right arrow over (V₄)}, {right arrow over (V₅)}, . . . shown at 136 f ₁₋₄.

For each attribute, the corresponding attribute value in the mapping 132 may change over time. For example, object 112 appears within frame 125 at t₁ but then disappears in frame 126 at t₂—meaning attribute values relating to object 112 are not present in the mapping at t₂. For another example, the relative location 217 a between objects 111 and 112 changes to relative location 217 b from frame 125 to frame 126. Thus, the content deconstruction engine 130 further defines each attribute value in the mapping 132 with a respective presence indicator. The presence indicator has a start time and an end time defining the time duration when the specific attribute value is present within the content segment 122 a.

FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D provide diagrams illustrating an example content structure 133 including an attribute table 131 and associated mapping 132 generated from video frames of the content segment 122 a as shown in FIGS. 2-3, according to some embodiments described herein. Specifically, FIG. 4 shows content structure 133 includes attribute table 131 listing a number of attributes, and mapping 132 includes attribute values 132 a-h corresponding to the attributes, and FIG. 5 further details attributes listed in the attribute table 131. FIGS. 6A-D provides an expanded view of mapping 132 shown in FIGS. 4-5.

Specifically, attribute table 131 may include an object data structure 134 including attributes relating to an object. The object data structure 134 includes a descriptive structure 135, an action structure 136, an audio structure 137, etc., as shown in FIG. 4. As further expanded in FIG. 5, the descriptive structure 135 lists attributes such as object name, object type (e.g., human, vehicle, architecture, animal, etc.), features 135 a (e.g.,), states 135 b, etc. The features 135 a and states 135 b may include different attributes based on the object type, e.g., age, race, gender, etc. for a human type, or model, year, make, etc. for a vehicle type, etc. The states 135 b may include an emotional state (e.g., happy, sad, angry, scared, doubtful, ashamed, etc.), a motion state (e.g., laying down, sitting, sweating, shaking, swimming, flying, sailing, flailing, bleeding, waving, laughing, crying, singing, dancing, spinning, sliding, gliding, shifting, stirring, kicking, punching etc.) for a human type, or a physical state (e.g., intact, decomposed, broken, integrated, splashed, sprinkled, flowing, etc.) for a non-human type, etc.

The action structure 136 is descriptive of actions that the object is performing on or to other objects. The action structure 136 lists action name/type 136 a (e.g., shooting, riding, kissing, holding, throwing, cutting, catching, etc.), object(s) that the action involves, absolute location 136 b of the object with respect to the video frame, relative location 136 c relative to other object(s), absolute motion 136 e, relative motion 136 f, etc. The location and motion attributes 136 b-f are similar to those discussed in relation to FIG. 3B. The mapping 132 b corresponding to the action attribute 136 a may include a value indicative of a rate or a degree at which the action in taking place (e.g., running “slowly,” “athletically,” “quickly,” etc.)

The audio structure 137 contains audio information generated by or associated with an object. For example, audio track 137 a may represent dialogue spoken by the object; audio track 137 b represents the sound of steps of the object running in the street; and audio 137 c represents the sound of the object crashing into the front of a car. Each audio track 137 a-c may further list attributes including audio type, frequency, pitch, melody, volume, lyrics, instrument, voice signature, etc.

FIG. 4 further shows the attribute table 131 includes a scene data structure 138 includes set structure 139, effects structure 140 and scene audio structure 141. As further expanded in FIG. 5, set structure 139 lists attributes of the general set for the content segment, such as setting type 139 a, setting features 139 b, etc. The setting type 139 a may include a time period (e.g., 1930s, medieval, etc.), location (e.g., sunset blvd. in Los Angeles, etc.), or environmental (e.g., bank vault, casino, forest, desert, beach, mountain, ship, war zone, ocean floor, outer-space, etc.).

The effects structure 140 lists attributes of a special effect such as an effect type 140 a (e.g., fog, smoke, flash, splash, underwater sunlight, spray, glow, spark, explosion, etc.), features 140 b (e.g., color, light smoke, heavy smoke, etc.), effect area 140 c (e.g., the location of the effect within the frame), and the associated object that the effect is related to.

The scene audio structure 141 lists attributes relating to various audio or sounds associated with the scene, such as a list of scene audio tracks 141 a-n. Each scene audio track 141 a-n further includes attributes such as audio type, pitch, frequency, melody, volume, etc. Each scene audio track 141 a-n further includes an attribute indicative of allocation the audio is associated with, e.g., a siren is related to the left side of the set, a human yelling voice is related to the right side of the set, etc.

FIG. 4 further shows the attribute table 131 includes a lighting data structure 142, which includes a light structure 143 and lighting motion structure 144. As further expanded in FIG. 5, the light structure 143 includes attributes such as a light source 143 a (e.g., sun, a lamp, etc.), light type 143 b (e.g., natural light, lamp light, etc.), angle or azimuth 143 c, color/hue 143 d, saturation 143 e. The lighting motion structure 144 lists attributes such as absolute location 144 a of illuminated area, location 144 b of illuminated area relative to the light source, absolute motion 144 c of the illuminated area, motion 144 d of the illuminated area relative to the light source, etc.

FIGS. 4-5 further show mappings 132 a-h include attribute values corresponding to the attributes in the attribute table 131. The attribute values may take different data formats, e.g., a numeric value, a percentage, a descriptor, etc. For example, at mapping 132 a, the attribute value corresponding to object type can be “human,” “vehicle,” “animal,” etc. At mapping 132 b, the attribute value corresponding to absolute location attribute 136 b is the coordinates (X₁, Y₁, Z₁). At mapping 132 g, the attribute value corresponding to color 143 d can be the red, green and blue parameters (of the lighting). Each attribute value is bounded by a time duration defined by the presence indicator, as illustrated by the various line segments shown at mappings 132 a-h.

FIGS. 6A-D provide an expanded view of content structure 133 shown in FIGS. 4-5. Specifically, the duration of the content segment 122 a between t₁ and t₂ is divided into smaller time units such as t1 ₀, t1 ₁, t1 ₂, . . . t1 _(n), . . . t2. Every mapping corresponding to a specific attribute value is then associated with the presence indicator that has a start time and an end time chosen from t1 ₀, t1 ₁, t1 ₂, . . . t1 _(n), . . . t2.

For example, feature mappings (e.g., “Caucasian,” “male,” “28 years old,” “brown hair,” “red shirt,” etc.) 135 a _(1-n) may be bounded by the time duration when object 111 appears in content segment 122 a. State mappings (e.g., “angry,” “tense,” “running,” “jumping,” etc.) 135 b _(1-n) may each be bounded by the time when the actual state appears, e.g., state=“running” between t1 ₀ and t1 _(x), and then changes to “jumping” between t1 _(x) and t1 _(y).

Similarly, mapping 132 further shows action mapping 136 a ₁, absolute location mappings 136 b ₁₋₂, relative location mappings 215 a, 217 a, 217 b and 218 a, absolute motion mapping 136 e ₁, relative motion mapping 136 f ₁₋₄ (as also discussed in relation to FIG. 3B), setting mappings 139 a ₁, setting feature mappings 139 b ₁₋₃, effects type mappings 140 a ₁₋₂, effects feature mappings 140 b ₁₋₂, effect area mappings 140 c ₁₋₂, light type mapping 143 a ₁₋₂, angle mapping 143 b ₁, color mapping 143 c ₁₋₂, saturation mapping, absolute location mappings 143 f ₁₋₂, relative location mappings 143 h ₁₋₂ and 143 i ₁₋₂, absolute motion of light mapping 143 j ₁, relative motion of light mapping 143 k ₁, etc. Each mapping is represented by a line segment indicative of the time duration that the specific mapping is present in content segment 122 a.

FIG. 7 provides an example diagram illustrating the process of training and generating content structure 133 via an artificial neural network, according to some embodiments described herein. An artificial neural network may be trained to recognize objects, scenes, audios, settings, effects, etc., from a content segment. Content segment 122 a can then be fed to the input layer 610 of the artificial neural network. For example, various visual representations may indicate the same type of object, scene, etc. As shown in FIG. 8, the effect “water splash” 710 a-f or “blood splatter” 720 a-d may share a common pattern, but each has different visualization. The artificial neural network may be trained to identify the common pattern from different visualizations via processing at one or more hidden layers 611. Thus, by identifying objects, scenes, audios, settings, effects, etc., from the content segment, an output of the content structure 133 is generated at the output layer 612. Further details relating to identifying objects from a content segment are provided in co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. nonprovisional application Ser. No. 16/216,275, filed on Dec. 11, 2018, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIG. 8 provides example training sets for object/scene/effect identification for the artificial neural network illustrated in FIG. 6. For example, a number of images, videos, etc. 710 a-f showing different kinds of “water splash” can be used to train the artificial neural network to identify the effect of “water splash” 710 from a content segment. For another example, a number of images, videos, etc. 720 a-d showing different kinds of “blood splatter” can be used to train the artificial neural network to identify the effect of “blood splatter” 720 from a content segment.

FIGS. 9A-B provide pseudo-code examples of content structure 133 illustrated in FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D, according to some embodiments described herein. Content structure 133 may be stored in a structured data format compatible with WL, JSON, Python, etc. For example, FIG. 9A shows an example segment of attribute table 131 that lists a hierarchical structure of data fields for the attribute table 131, under which object data structure 134 is listed, under which the description structure 135 is listed, under which an object 111 is listed, under which a number of features of the object 111 are listed, and so on.

FIG. 9B shows an example segment of mapping 132. For example, mapping 132 specifies the object identifier for object 111, and the presence indicator of a time duration “0:00-00:11” during which object 111 is present within the content segment 122 a. Mapping 132 also specifies a mapping for the object state attribute, e.g., [0,00:00-00:02, 27] indicates a state of code “0” (e.g., referring to the state of “determined) having a degree of “27” (e.g., 27 out of 100, referring to “moderately determined”) during the time duration “00:00-00:02.” The state mapping may change to [1, 00:02-00:05, 35], which indicates a state of code “1” (e.g., referring to the state of “intense”) having a degree of “35” (e.g., 35 out of 100 level of “intense”) during time duration “00:02-00:05,” and so on.

In another example, mapping 132 includes mappings for the absolute or relative locations, the absolute or relative motions of object 111, as discussed in relation to FIGS. 3A-B. As shown in FIG. 9B, the absolute location mapping [00:00-00:02, (11.34, 23.34, 23.87)] indicates the location at the 3-D coordinates (11.34, 23.34, 23.87) during time “00:00-00:02.” The absolute location mapping may change to [00:02-00:07, (12.02, 21.23, 05.67)], indicating the location of object 111 changes to the location at coordinates (12.02, 21.23, 05.67) during time “00:02-00:07,” and so on. The relative location mapping [112, 00:00-00:02, (2.7, 30°)] indicates a relative location at polar coordinates (2.7, 30°) relative to object 112 during the time “00:00-00:02,” and so on. The absolute motion mapping [00:00-00:02, ({right arrow over (v)}1)] indicates a motion vector {right arrow over (v)}1 during the time “00:00-00:02,” and so on. The relative motion mapping [112, 00:00-00:02, ({right arrow over (v)}4)] indicates a relative motion vector {right arrow over (v)}4 relative to object 112 during the time “00:00-00:02,” and so on.

Another content structure 133 taking a form similar to XML, is provided below:

<content_structure> <attribute table> <object> <object_id> 111 </object_id> <type> human </type> <feature> <gender> male </gender> <age> 28 </age> <height> 6' </height> <hair_color> brown hair </hair_color> <race> Caucasian </race> <attire> check shirt </attire> ... </feature> <state> <emotion> determined, intense </emotion> ... </state> ... </attribute_table> <object_map> <object_map_ID> map 132 </object_map_ID> <start_time>00:00 </start_time> <end_time> 00:10 </end_time> <object_ID> object 111 </object_ID> <location> <absolute location> <x_coordinate> 12344.34 </x_coordinate> <y_coordinate> 4234.45 </y_coordinate> </absolute location> <relative_location> <relative_object_id> 112 </relative_object_id> <relative_distance> 12 </relative_distance> <relative_angle> 23° </relative_angle> ... </relative_location> <start_time>00:10 </start_time> <end_time> 00:15 </end_time> <absolute location> <x_coordinate> 16342.56 </x_coordinate> <y_coordinate> 3234.48 </y_coordinate> </absolute location> <relative_location> <relative_object_id> 112 </relative_object_id> <relative_distance> 90 </relative_distance> <relative_angle> 47° </relative_angle> ... </relative_location> ... </location> <motion> <start_time>00:00 </start_time> <end_time> 00:10 </end_time> <velocity> 10mph,53°,260° </velocity> <relative motion> <relative_object_id> 112 </relative_object_id> <velocity> 1 mph,5°,2° </velocity> </relative motion> ... </motion> <audio> <start_time>00:00 </start_time> <end_time> 00:10 </end_time> <audio_object_ID> audio_111 </audio_object_ID) <dialogue> “Come on” </dialogue> <background_audio> instrumental </background_audio> ... </audio> ... </object_map> <object> ... </object> ... </content_structure> For another example, for a physical object such as a car, attributes in the object data structure may be hierarchical, including object, object type, object sub-type, object name, make and model, color, etc., and the corresponding mapping may include “non-human object,” “vehicle,” “automobile,” “car,” “BMW,” “SUV X5,” “red,” and/or the like.

FIGS. 10-11 provide example diagrams illustrating the content deconstruction engine 130 processing a number of content streams 108 a-n to generate a number of content structures, according to some embodiments described herein. For example, FIG. 10 shows a pre-processing system 1000 that is similar to the pre-processing system 100 in FIG. 1, but a number of content streams 108 a-n are fed to the buffer 120, e.g., in a parallel input structure. Each content stream 108 a-n is then deconstructed into a respective number of content segments. Depending on the content stream, different content streams may be deconstructed into content segments in different manners. For example, content stream 108 a may be deconstructed into content segments 108 a _(1-n), each having a defined length (e.g., 10 ms, etc.), while content stream 108 b may be deconstructed into content segments 122 b _(1-n) by identifying the change of scenes in content stream 108 b.

The deconstructed content segments 122 a _(1-n), 122 b _(1-n), . . . are then fed to the content deconstruction engine 130 as shown in diagram 1100 in FIG. 11. The content deconstruction engine 130 may deconstruct each content segment 122 a _(1-n), 122 b _(1-n), . . . into a content structure 233 a-n for storage at 319. For example, each content structure 233 would be similar to content structure 133 discussed throughout 1-9, e.g., including an attribute table 231 and the mapping 232.

The content structures 233 a-n may be generated in a distributive manner at distributed processors, in parallel by parallel processors, or in any other processing orders. The content structures 233 a-n may be stored in database 319 either together collectively, or may be stored separately at distributed servers for later retrieval to construct new content.

FIG. 12 shows another example of content structure 233 having the attribute table 231 and mapping 232. Content structure 233 may take a form similar to content structure 133 as shown in FIGS. 4-5 and 6A-D, having the attribute table 231 and mapping 232. The attribute table 231 lists object data structure 234 including the action structure 226 and descriptive structure 235, each including a number of attributes such as object features 235 a-b, states 235 c-d, action absolute location 236 b, relative location 237, absolute motion 238, relative motion 239, etc. The mapping 232 is illustrated by various line segments, indicating each mapping is bounded by a time duration during which the corresponding attribute value indicated by the respective mapping is present within the content segment. Attribute mappings 232 a, 235 a _(1-n), 235 b ₁, 235 c ₁, 235 d ₁₋₂, 236 a ₁₋₂, 236 b ₁, 237 a-d, 238 a-e shown at mapping 232 may be defined in a similar manner as discussed in relation to mapping 132 of FIGS. 6A-D.

FIGS. 13A-14 provide example diagrams illustrating aspects of creating new content from previously created and stored content structures discussed throughout FIGS. 1-12. Specifically, FIG. 13A shows generating a new content structure 333 based on previously created and stored content structures 133 shown in FIGS. 4-5 and content structure 233 shown in FIG. 11. For example, the mapping 132 in content structure 133 may be modified or replaced by mapping 232 from content structure 233.

In this way, attributes of the object data structure for object 111 are assigned new attribute values from mapping 232, which can change the appearance, state, movement, etc., of the original object 111 to result in a new object. For example, in content structure 133, object feature attributes in attribute table 131, such as race, age, gender, height, skin tone, hair color, eye color, etc., are mapped to attribute values in mapping 132 such as “Caucasian,” “28 years old,” “male,” “6 feet,” “tanned,” “brown hair,” “hazel eyes,” etc. In content structure 233, object feature attributes in attribute table 231, such as species, age, gender, height, skin tone, hair color, eye color, etc., are mapped to “undefined creature,” “mature,” “male,” “56 feet,” “lizard green,” “no hair,” “black eyes,” etc. By mix-matching mapping 232 with attribute table 131, the new content structure 333 has the object data structure for object 111 being mapped to attribute values “undefined creature,” “mature,” “male,” “56 feet,” “lizard green,” “no hair,” “black eyes,” etc.

As shown in FIG. 13A, attributes such as actions, absolute locations, etc., in the attribute table 131 are assigned to relevant attribute values from mapping 232. For example, the action is changed from “(running, upright on two limbs)” to “(lumbering, on two limbs and tail).” The absolute location can be changed to a set of new coordinates that fit the size and shape of the monster creature. The motion can be changed to the motion vectors indicative of the speed and motion pattern of the monster creature. Thus, in the new content structure 333, the original object 111, which is indicative of a Caucasian male character running and jumping (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3A), is modified to indicate a monster creature that has lizard skin lumbering heavily.

Similarly, another object structure (e.g., indicative of the red car shown in video frames 125 a-n in FIG. 3A) in content structure 133 can be mapped to attribute values depicting a bridge-tower architecture, which may be obtained from another content structure (e.g., different from 133 or 233). The setting mappings corresponding to setting attributes in attribute table 131 can be replaced by setting mappings from another different, previously stored content structure (e.g., different from content structures 133 or 233). For example, the setting mappings in mappings 132, which are indicative of “Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles,” can be changed to “Brooklyn bridge, New York.” The lighting mappings corresponding to lighting attributes in attribute table 131 can be replaced by lighting mappings from yet another previously stored content structure, e.g., to change the lighting mapping from daylight to a night pattern, and so on. The new content structure 333 is then indicative of a monster creature that has lizard skin lumbering heavily on the Brooklyn Bridge and crashing into the bridge tower (e.g., as illustrated in video frames 425 a-n in FIG. 13B).

Thus, by mix-matching a number of previously stored content structures, new content structure 333 is created, which can be used to reconstruct new content showing a monster creature crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The content generation process requires little production cost without expensive setting, filming or computer editing that is usually required for content creation of the science fiction genre.

The new content structure 333 shown in FIG. 13A may be generated by user selection. For example, the content construction engine 330 may provide a drag-and-drop feature in a user interface such that a user can drag the new mapping 232 into the content structure 133 to replace mapping 132 via the user interface. Or a user may program and edit the content structure 133, e.g., by editing attribute values in mapping 132, etc. Alternatively, in another implementation, a content construction engine may be implemented to automatically combining, replacing or mix-matching a previously stored content structure upon indication of an object, scene, effect, etc., to be replaced. In the respective example in FIG. 13A, a user may select the object 211 (e.g., the “monster” object) described by content structure 233 via a user interface to indicate that the object 111 (e.g., the “male” object) is to be replaced. The content construction engine 330 may then populate the attributes corresponding to object 111 in attribute table 131 with attribute values corresponding to object 211 from mapping 132, as illustrated in FIG. 13A.

In some embodiments, the content construction engine may automatically determine which mappings from mapping 232 of the content structure 233 can be used to customize object 111 in content structure 133. For example, the content construction engine determines a list of attributes for object 111 that need to be populated or customized, e.g., attributes depicting the physical appearance and movement patterns. The content construction engine may then obtain attribute values from the customized mapping 232 that depict the physical appearance and movement patterns of a monster creature to populate attributes relating to object 111 in content structure 133.

FIG. 14 provides an example block diagram illustrating constructing a new content segment based on the new content structure 333 shown in FIG. 13A, according to embodiments described herein. Content construction system 1400 shows a content construction engine 330, which may be implemented together with, or separately from, the content deconstruction engine 130, which retrieves the new content structure 333 from storage device 319, and then converts the content structure 333 into content segment 322 a. The conversion may be done by computer rendering algorithms to render video frames 425 a-n as shown in FIG. 13B based on structured data from the new content structure 333. The video frames 425 a-n are then combined sequentially and consecutively to output content segment 322 a.

FIG. 15 provides an example block diagram 1500 illustrating constructing a new content stream based on various new content segments as generated in FIG. 14, according to embodiments described herein. New content segments 322 a-n may be generated in parallel, in sequence or at distributed processors of the content construction engine 330 and stored at buffer 120. The buffered content segments 322 a-n at the buffer 120 may be concatenated in a time-sequential manner to form a new content stream 308.

The content deconstruction engine 130 and/or the content construction engine 330 described throughout FIGS. 1-15 may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented on a computer device. In such an approach, instructions of the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine are stored locally (e.g., in storage 319 in FIG. 2), and data for use by the engine may also be stored locally and/or downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control circuitry may be used to retrieve instructions of the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine from storage and process the instructions to generate any of the content structures discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions, control circuitry may determine what action to perform when input is received.

In some embodiments, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine is a client server-based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on a computer device is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the computer device. In one example of a client server-based content deconstruction engine and/or content construction engine, control circuitry processes instructions provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may store the instructions for the application in a storage device.

In some embodiments, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry). In some embodiments, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry. For example, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine may include an EBIF application. In some embodiments, the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine may be defined by a series of JAVA-based or JSON based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the content deconstruction engine and/or the content construction engine may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.

It is contemplated that the actions or descriptions of each of FIGS. 1-15 may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the actions and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 1-15 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methods involved in the present disclosure may be embodied in a computer program product that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. For example, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memory device, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a random-access memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette, having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should also be understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in the present disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. The processing circuitry, for instance, may be a general-purpose processor, a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) within the content construction engine or the content deconstruction engine described through the disclosure.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of the processes discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/or rearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departing from the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure is meant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow are meant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to “convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose of providing context to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, and does not form any admission as to what constitutes the state of the art. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for creating content based on one or more previously stored content structures, the method comprising: retrieving a first content structure having a first attribute table including at least a first list of attributes associated with a first object depicted in a first content segment, and a first mapping including first attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes, wherein each respective attribute value of the first attribute values identifies a time period during which the first object is depicted with the respective attribute in the first content segment; retrieving a second content structure having a second attribute table including at least a second list of attributes associated with a second object depicted in a second content segment, and a second mapping including second attribute values corresponding to the second list of attributes, wherein each respective attribute value of the second attribute values identifies a time period during which the second object is depicted with the respective attribute in the second content segment; creating a third content structure by: replacing at least a first attribute in the first list of attributes with a second attribute in the second list of attributes; and replacing a first attribute value of the first mapping with a second attribute value of the second mapping; and constructing, based on the third content structure, a new content segment, wherein the new content segment depicts the first object that was depicted in the first content segment with an attribute with which the second object in the second content segment is depicted for a time period defined by the second attribute value of the second mapping.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing a content segment at a buffer; and generating a content stream by sequentially rendering the content segment from the buffer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein replacing attribute and/or attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes and/or first list of attribute values comprises: for a first attribute from the first list of attributes: identifying a respective matching attribute from the second list; retrieving, from the second list, a corresponding attribute and/or a corresponding attribute value from the second mapping relating to the respective matching attribute; and replacing a value of the first attribute with a corresponding attribute value from the second list and/or replacing the first attribute from the first list with the matching attribute from the second list.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein replacing attributes and/or attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes comprises: receiving, via a user interface, a first identification of one or more attributes and/or attribute values from the second content structure; receiving, via a user interface, an indication to: replace at least one of the first attribute values with the one or more attribute values of the second mapping; and replace at least one of the first attributes with at least one of the second attributes.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first list of attributes comprises a first list of object attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding object attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of object attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding object attributes.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first and/or second list of object attributes further comprises at least one of a descriptive structure, an action structure and an audio structure; and wherein the descriptive structure, the action structure and the audio structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first list of attributes comprises a first list of scene attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding scene attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of scene attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding scene attributes.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and/or second list of scene attributes further comprises at least one of a set structure, an effects structure and scene audio structure; wherein the set structure, the effects structure and the scene audio structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first list of attributes comprises a first list of lighting attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding lighting attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of lighting attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding lighting attributes.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and/or second list of lighting attributes further comprises at least one of a light structure, and a lighting motion structure; and wherein the light structure, and the lighting motion structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein replacing the one or more attribute values of the first mapping with the one or more corresponding attribute values of the second mapping comprises determining a time frame associated with the first mapping and adjusting the second mapping attribute value to match the time frame.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the second attribute value is selected from the group comprising: compressing the duration of the second mapping attribute value if the time frame is shorter, elongating the duration of the second mapping attribute value if the time frame is longer, or receiving, via a user interface, an input indicative of a parameter defining the time frame.
 13. A system for creating content based on one or more previously stored content structures, the system comprising: storage circuitry configured to store a plurality of content structures; control circuitry configured to: retrieve a first content structure having a first attribute table including at least a first list of attributes associated with a first object depicted in a first content segment, and a first mapping including first attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes, wherein each respective attribute value of the first attribute values identifies a time period during which the first object is depicted with the respective attribute in the first content segment; retrieve a second content structure having a second attribute table including at least a second list of attributes associated with a second object depicted in a second content segment, and a second mapping including second attribute values corresponding to the second list of attributes, wherein each respective attribute value of the second attribute values identifies a time period during which the second object is depicted with the respective attribute in the second content segment; create a third content structure by: replacing at least a first attribute in the first list of attributes with a second attribute in the second list of attributes; and replacing a first attribute value of the first mapping with a second attribute value of the second mapping; and construct, based on the third content structure, a new content segment, wherein the new content segment depicts the first object that was depicted in the first content segment with an attribute with which the second object in the second content segment is depicted for a time period defined by the second value of the second mapping.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: store a content segment at a buffer; and generate a content stream by sequentially rendering the content segment from the buffer.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to replace attribute and/or attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes and/or first list of attribute values by: for a first attribute from the first list of attributes: identifying a respective matching attribute from the second list; retrieving, from the second list, a corresponding attribute and/or a corresponding attribute value from the second mapping relating to the respective matching attribute; and replacing a value of the first attribute with a corresponding attribute value from the second list and/or replacing the first attribute from the first list with the matching attribute from the second list.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to replace attributes and/or attribute values corresponding to the first list of attributes by: receiving, via a user interface, a first identification of one or more attributes and/or attribute values from the second content structure; receiving, via a user interface, an indication to: replace at least one of the first attribute values with the one or more attribute values of the second mapping; and replace at least one of the first attributes with at least one of the second attributes.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein: the first list of attributes comprises a first list of object attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding object attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of object attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding object attributes.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first and/or second list of object attributes further comprises at least one of a descriptive structure, an action structure and an audio structure; and wherein the descriptive structure, the action structure and the audio structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein the first list of attributes comprises a first list of scene attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding scene attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of scene attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding scene attributes.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first and/or second list of scene attributes further comprises at least one of a set structure, an effects structure and scene audio structure; wherein the set structure, the effects structure and the scene audio structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 21. The system of claim 13, wherein the first list of attributes comprises a first list of lighting attributes and the first mapping comprises a first list of corresponding lighting attribute values; and the second list of attributes comprises a second list of lighting attributes and the second mapping comprises a second list of corresponding lighting attributes.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first and/or second list of lighting attributes further comprises at least one of a light structure, and a lighting motion structure; and wherein the light structure, and the lighting motion structure further comprise corresponding attribute values comprised in the first and/or second mappings respectively.
 23. The system of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to replace the one or more attribute values of the first mapping with the one or more corresponding attribute values of the second mapping by determining a time frame associated with the first mapping and adjusting the second mapping attribute value to match the time frame.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to adjust the second attribute value is selected from the group by compressing the duration of the second mapping attribute value if the time frame is shorter, elongating the duration of the second mapping attribute value if the time frame is longer, or receiving, via a user interface, an input indicative of a parameter defining the time frame. 